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TARPON SPRINGS — Communist. Socialist. Un-American.
A resident lobbed those labels at Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris on Tuesday night, expressing displeasure with the mayor for inviting a small group from a Chinese town for a visit.
"We shouldn't be playing footsie with them," said Jessie Burke, a Tarpon Spring resident and fixture at City Commission meetings. "People who love socialism should go live in a socialist country. That's where our mayor and vice mayor belong. If they love it that much, let them go there."
When Billiris told Burke her time had expired for speaking on the matter, Burke replied: "I'll sit down when I'm good and ready, lady. I don't take orders from someone who loves communism."
Burke then sat down.
On July 8, Billiris and Vice Mayor Robin Saenger traveled to Tunxi, a Chinese town where the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was filmed, for a conference at which they promoted Tarpon Springs and Pinellas County.
Now six members from the Tunxi region want to visit Tarpon Springs. In order to help facilitate the processing of the Chinese delegation's visas, the mayor sent a formal invitation.
The letter was dated Aug. 24. On Aug. 27, Billiris informed the commission via a memo of her invitation to the Chinese delegation, which plans to visit in October or November.
Commissioner Peter Dalacos took issue with the action, saying the invitation should have been put on the city's agenda and voted on by the full commission.
"I make a motion to send a letter to rescind the letter," Dalacos said at Tuesday night's meeting. "I'm not in favor of a blanket invitation to members of the Chinese government. For you to have sent this on our letterhead is an indication as far as the whole city, and it is distasteful in that regard."
But Billiris countered that the invitation is from the "Office of the Mayor" and that she doesn't need permission to invite people to Tarpon Springs.
"As mayor, I can invite anyone to the city as I please," Billiris said. "Whether you like China or don't like China."
Billiris said she sent the letter on her "own authority as mayor," and she checked with the city's attorney who verified that she could send the invitation.
"It might not be pleasing because of China," Billiris said. "We should not be closing all our doors to anyone who wants to visit our city. … I did not obligate the city in any way. … I can send an invitation. I'm not planning to join the Communist Party any time soon, and there is socialism in Greece."
Commissioners Chris Alahouzos and Susan Slattery said they both had received calls from residents concerned about the mayor's invitation. Slattery said there were concerns that the Chinese invitation was part of the city's Sister City program. Billiris assured her that it wasn't.
Saenger simply noted that groups from other countries often visit the city, including a group from Palestine.
"People come and go from the city all the time," she said.
There is at least one person excited about the Tunxi visit. Ann Larsen, chair of the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art's Education and Outreach Committee based at Tarpon Springs' St. Petersburg College campus, expressed her support in an Aug. 28 letter to Billiris.
"The relationships with our Greek Sister Cities have certainly been rewarding on a local level, and a Chinese counterpart would bring many new opportunities to Tarpon Springs' cultural portfolio," wrote Larsen.
This is the second dustup involving the July trip to China. When Billiris and Saenger returned, they were questioned about a $95.25 Federal Express bill that the city paid to send promotional materials to China. Billiris had said that no city money was used on the trip itself.
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In other business, the commission passed a strongly worded three-page resolution expressing concern about a 200-acre residential, business and light industrial development on the banks of the Anclote River in Pasco County. The city sent a letter to Pasco County commissioners last month expressing concerns about the potential impact on the Anclote, which runs through Tarpon Springs.
The city "wishes to be identified as an affected party on this and future applications related to this proposed development; and the Board of City Commissioners strongly urges Pasco County to require the project developers to complete an environmental/endangered and threatened species study," the resolution said.
Demorris A. Lee can be reached at dalee@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4174,
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